Planning a little Balcans tour

[SandroRoma]

Hi guys,

I thinking to take a trip to the Balcans in August this summer.
Firstly I really want to see the most out of Montenegro and once I'm over there want to visit a bit of Albania, Bosnia and why not Kosovo and Serbia.
Here is a very general route just to give you an idea of the area I want to visit:
goo.gl/zsiaTN

Now, I muster up all of you which are expert about Balcans on what to see, where to sleep, which road to take (no gravel please), dangerous and safe areas, papers needed exc exc...

Traveling with my girlfriend on the back saddle and especially riding my Ducati Multistrada 1200 S (2016) are my concerns...
Do you think it's a safe trip or a bad idea? I don't want my Ducati to be stolen!

Thanks to all of your feedbacks!

Alessandro

[kawazoki]

Don't worry it is no guaranty that your bike is going to be on the place where was parked night before.., but to be safe you must take care and secure it like in any other place.
So come to Balkans and haw good time and have fun.

Ride safe kawazoki

[chris gale]

To be honest I'd worry more about bringing it to London at the moment. I'm off this Thurs to the Balkans, Bosnia, Montenegro and Croatia.... Again on my Mutley Strada 1200. Take a bike cover, couple of locks and stay in hotels / pensions with secure parking...... Same as anywhere really...... Enjoy

[Samy]

As bike safety already mentioned I will talk a bit about what to see on your route:

Before I go to a sightseeing trip, I ask uncle google "What to see in Albania" or "things/places to see or must see places in xxx"

In Albania I would not skip Girokaster and Berat

Bosnia : Mostar, Travnik and Tuzla

Montenegro : Not to skip around Kotor Bay

Croatia : Dubrovnik, Makarska, Plitvice Waterfalls, Krka Waterfalls, Sibenik..

Enjoy

[elias66]

Ciao Sandro, befor Zenica i would take the road to Vitez, Travnik, Jajce, Banja Luka, Prnjavor, Kozarska Dubica....


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[Cappy]

Hi I am planning a similar tour in September. Please update me with your experiences.

Originally Posted by SandroRoma

Hi guys,

I thinking to take a trip to the Balcans in August this summer.
Firstly I really want to see the most out of Montenegro and once I'm over there want to visit a bit of Albania, Bosnia and why not Kosovo and Serbia.
Here is a very general route just to give you an idea of the area I want to visit:
goo.gl/zsiaTN

Now, I muster up all of you which are expert about Balcans on what to see, where to sleep, which road to take (no gravel please), dangerous and safe areas, papers needed exc exc...

Traveling with my girlfriend on the back saddle and especially riding my Ducati Multistrada 1200 S (2016) are my concerns...
Do you think it's a safe trip or a bad idea? I don't want my Ducati to be stolen!

Thanks to all of your feedbacks!

Alessandro

[SandroRoma]

Originally Posted by Cappy

Hi I am planning a similar tour in September. Please update me with your experiences.

Hi Cappy,
I'll do it!

Sandro

[SandroRoma]

Hi Guys,
thanks to all of you who replied to me, really appreciated that!
Still planning with the help of the Holy Father Google (what to see and what to do)

I'll keep you update with my final route decision!

Sandro

[Cappy]

I was planning to sign up for a tour with MotoTrip despite the high costs as I wasn't familiar with the area however they do not have any slots for September vacant. Would appreciate if anyone is planning a similar tour I can join in.

Originally Posted by SandroRoma

Hi Cappy,
I'll do it!

Sandro

[PanEuropean]

Hello Alessandro:

I have ridden almost exactly the same route that you posted, first in 2014, most recently last year. I had a great time.

Some thoughts for you from my experience (in no particular order of importance):

1) Unless your home (Italian) insurance company has included coverage of the former Yugoslavian countries and Albania on your green card, you will need to buy insurance for each of the individual countries when you enter them. For most countries this will cost you about €15-€20 for one or two weeks (more than long enough for your purposes), but Macedonia (not on your route, but very close to your route) charges €50 for two weeks.

Contact your home insurance company well before you plan to leave, and see if they can sell you coverage for the whole Balkans area. If they can, it will be cheaper than spending €15-€20 4 or 5 times during a two-week trip.

2) I don't think there are any areas that are "unsafe" on your planned route. In fact, I feel much safer (personal safety) in the Balkans that I would feel in places like Palermo or New York City.

Your motorcycle, however, is a rather attractive goodie, so you will need to take "normal precautions" when you leave it unattended. By this I mean park it overnight in secure compounds (all hotels, pensions, hostels, and bed & breakfast facilities will have secure compounds).

3) Be aware that many of the secondary roads, especially in eastern Albania, Montenegro, and BIH, may not be in perfect condition. Last year, I decided to take a very scenic road (so the map said...) from Dubrovnik to Pristina, and wound up riding down some cow paths... not the best kind of road for a 400kg Honda ST 1100!

So, buy some good quality maps (Michelin maps are generally trustworthy) before you leave, but don't put 100% trust in what the map shows. When you are in the Balkans, NEVER trust the maps inside GPS navigators (Garmin, Tom-Tom, iPhone, Android, etc.) to correctly indicate the type of road (nice paved highway vs. cow path). The GPS devices will show the road in the correct location, but the condition of the road may be very different from what the GPS says it is.

4) Hotels and restaurants are very inexpensive in these countries. So, I suggest you just stay in hotels. Use TripAdvisor to see what the hotels charge, and what other travelers have to say about the hotel. Among other benefits, the hotel will always have a secure (locked-up) area to store your moto while you sleep.

5) I don't recommend visiting Serbia - not because there is anything wrong with the place, but because they use the Cyrillic alphabet there and it is impossible to read the road signs, and also because the Serb border guards can sometimes be troublesome if they see stamps from Kosovo in your passport.

6) One possibility is to take the ferry from Ancona to Durres, Albania, and then ride northwards only. The advantage of this is that you will still see the same countries, but have fewer kilometers to ride. Your girlfriend will probably appreciate this - women often don't like to sit on the back of the motorcycle while you travel 400 km in a day. They prefer to travel only 200 km a day, and stop and smell the roses every hour or so.

Hope this info helps you,

Michael

[chris gale]

Hi just crossed into Croatia from bosnia after six days there, did banja luka, Sarajevo, jasnice and trebinje. Yes the roads are knocked about and the driving standards vary from good to appalling, but the people were great, the roads empty and the views incredible. Its cheap as anything and should b on ur list. My ducati drew lots of attention at petrol stations so guarded parking and a bike cover is the way.
Try and avoid Sarajevo in rush hour though
Oh and it's blxxdy hot right now, mid thirties!!

[SandroRoma]

Hi PanEuropean,
that's a way more accurate then I would expected...appreciated that!

the bit about the conditions of the roads changing from tom tom to paper maps it was illuminating!

Originally Posted by PanEuropean

Hello Alessandro:

I have ridden almost exactly the same route that you posted, first in 2014, most recently last year. I had a great time.

Some thoughts for you from my experience (in no particular order of importance):

1) Unless your home (Italian) insurance company has included coverage of the former Yugoslavian countries and Albania on your green card, you will need to buy insurance for each of the individual countries when you enter them. For most countries this will cost you about €15-€20 for one or two weeks (more than long enough for your purposes), but Macedonia (not on your route, but very close to your route) charges €50 for two weeks.

Contact your home insurance company well before you plan to leave, and see if they can sell you coverage for the whole Balkans area. If they can, it will be cheaper than spending €15-€20 4 or 5 times during a two-week trip.

2) I don't think there are any areas that are "unsafe" on your planned route. In fact, I feel much safer (personal safety) in the Balkans that I would feel in places like Palermo or New York City.

Your motorcycle, however, is a rather attractive goodie, so you will need to take "normal precautions" when you leave it unattended. By this I mean park it overnight in secure compounds (all hotels, pensions, hostels, and bed & breakfast facilities will have secure compounds).

3) Be aware that many of the secondary roads, especially in eastern Albania, Montenegro, and BIH, may not be in perfect condition. Last year, I decided to take a very scenic road (so the map said...) from Dubrovnik to Pristina, and wound up riding down some cow paths... not the best kind of road for a 400kg Honda ST 1100!

So, buy some good quality maps (Michelin maps are generally trustworthy) before you leave, but don't put 100% trust in what the map shows. When you are in the Balkans, NEVER trust the maps inside GPS navigators (Garmin, Tom-Tom, iPhone, Android, etc.) to correctly indicate the type of road (nice paved highway vs. cow path). The GPS devices will show the road in the correct location, but the condition of the road may be very different from what the GPS says it is.

4) Hotels and restaurants are very inexpensive in these countries. So, I suggest you just stay in hotels. Use TripAdvisor to see what the hotels charge, and what other travelers have to say about the hotel. Among other benefits, the hotel will always have a secure (locked-up) area to store your moto while you sleep.

5) I don't recommend visiting Serbia - not because there is anything wrong with the place, but because they use the Cyrillic alphabet there and it is impossible to read the road signs, and also because the Serb border guards can sometimes be troublesome if they see stamps from Kosovo in your passport.

6) One possibility is to take the ferry from Ancona to Durres, Albania, and then ride northwards only. The advantage of this is that you will still see the same countries, but have fewer kilometers to ride. Your girlfriend will probably appreciate this - women often don't like to sit on the back of the motorcycle while you travel 400 km in a day. They prefer to travel only 200 km a day, and stop and smell the roses every hour or so.

Hope this info helps you,

Michael

[SandroRoma]

Hi Chris,
thanks for sharing your "live" experience with me...your tips are precious!

Originally Posted by chris gale

Hi just crossed into Croatia from bosnia after six days there, did banja luka, Sarajevo, jasnice and trebinje. Yes the roads are knocked about and the driving standards vary from good to appalling, but the people were great, the roads empty and the views incredible. Its cheap as anything and should b on ur list. My ducati drew lots of attention at petrol stations so guarded parking and a bike cover is the way.
Try and avoid Sarajevo in rush hour though
Oh and it's blxxdy hot right now, mid thirties!!

[dooby]

Originally Posted by Cappy

I was planning to sign up for a tour with MotoTrip despite the high costs as I wasn't familiar with the area however they do not have any slots for September vacant. Would appreciate if anyone is planning a similar tour I can join in.

Hi Cappy,

We can provide a motorcycle for more then one-off tour, meaning you can buy a motorcycle through us (Lobagola B&B | design bed & breakfast in the center of Zagreb) and we can arrange a mapping for your trip(much cheaper then renting and you only use a fraction of the value of the bike when reselling).
We're DMC tour operator catering for the global motorcycle and 4x4 community with an array of service: motorcycle purchase, motorcycle storage, green card insurance, vehicle transport, mapping, gps routing, spare parts, tires, service, air and sea freight etc etc.

Let me know if you need any more info from our side.

We're also one of the founders of TET (www.transeurotrail.org), where off road riding is what we really love.

Have a great weekend.

Cheers
Dooby

[mekongfrank]

Really lovely lake especially on the Macedonian side.

I did like Serbia a lot too, no problem with navigation at all, no real language problems either, always found someone who spoke German or English. If you are online, Google translate worked perfectly for me recently in Vietnam. The Hapsburg fortress near Novi Sad is definitely worth a visit, so is the Iron Gate, the gorge of the Danube leading into Romania.

I did not have any safety issues on my trips in 2009 (F650 Dakar) and 2010 (1200 GSA), I did stay in Hotels for an average of 20€ then. You'd have to avoid the coast in August though. Prices and traffic are much nicer in the back country.
These days I navigate only with Android (Sygic, maps.me, Google maps). Works like a charm, all offline if you download it in advance. Just about everything was paved even 8 years ago, but then, I don't mind doing a stretch of gravel now and again, which I had a few times especially in B&H and Albania.

European green insurance card should work for all countries except Kosovo. I paid 20€ for like 2 weeks, it's sold at the border. I crossed from Kosovo into Serbia and vice versa, no problem then.

Enjoy your trip!